There’s nothing like an Australian tourism ad
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Because no one else in the world could make one as cringeworthy as this!
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This is the new Tourism Australia There’s nothing like Australia ad that is the centrepiece of a $150 million advertising campaign to market (or re-market) Australia to the world, following the miserable failure of the ‘Where the bloody hell are you’ campaign that featured Lara ‘the sportsmans’ tart’ Bingle. I agree with the many on-line critical comments that the ad is “embarrassing’’, “tacky” and “cheesy’’ and that “The soundtrack sounds like it was ripped out of a Monty Python movie”. The problem with this ad, and with the Bingle ad, is that it is too desperate and tries too hard. It’s like we’re saying, “Please come and see us, we’re a pretty good place, really”.
Contrast this approach with the laconic, laid back and ‘take it or leave it’ style of the highly successful Paul Hogan ads of the mid 1980s. Do yourself a favour and have a look at them (click on “more” below) because, love him or hate him, Hogan simply put it across that Australia was a great place to visit and you’re welcome. He just sold the product for what it was and left it up to the viewers to make the decision to come or not. And they did. Maybe they should just re-run Hoges?
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Promoting 'Beautiful Bright'.
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Some overfed & overpaid wanker will try to show that Hogan’s commercials would not work today. His ads were classics of brevity and wit. I agree, bring him back!
The current batch of ads are poor copies along themes adopted successfully by Qantas & Fosters (i.e., rolling performers & amazing scenery), but the similarities stop there.
The ad is crass and cringeworthy and the music… (No comment)?
We can do better!
I’d have to think about what I would do better, but I agree, this is not good.
If you look at the Hogan ads it’s no wonder they were so successful. As Noel says, they’re brief and they get to the point without labouring it like the new ad does.
What is the point of having a woman holding a Koala and saying, “There’s nothing like this cuddly bear” only to have a park ranger butt in and tell her “That’s not a bear”? Doesn’t that just confuse things? As for the jingle, did they deliberately tell everyone to sing it off key? Perhaps the ad maker thinks it portrays us as a bunch of people just having a go? The effect is we sound like either a pack of drunks, retarded or downright immature.
The ad is awful and pathetic.
you tossers are missing the point entirely.
this is not advertising for people already in the country its for people who have certain perceptions and mainly mistaken beliefs about our country.
for heavens sake get over the Paul Hogan stuff, it was and still is crass history. the last round with that Bingle woman was insulting.
the images in the new add were provided by people from all walks of life in OZ, people just like well you and me I suppose.
and if some right wing bigots have their way we will become drunks, retarded and downright immature so just accept it and move on…….now what else is happening?
I think you’re the one missing the point, elephantandrat. The overseas audience, especially Americans did identify (big time) with Hogan and loved his laconic, confident & easy going style.
Sure he showed the typical iconic scenes of Australia but so does the new ad.
And the new ad actually attempts to borrow on Hogan’s ‘Australianism’ but fails because (a) the people sound like morons (b) the song is crass (c) the point is too laboured and oversold.
The key to good advertising is the KISS principle, i.e. Keep It Simple Stupid, which is exactly what Hogan did. This new ad smacks of some inner-city type’s perception of what Australians are like and the fact he or she had an unlimited budget to spend.
Btw, given that our new target audience is Asia & Europe more so than cash-strapped Americans, how do you reckon the ad will go down with them? I reckon they’ll be frightened off.
I think they are trying to get too many images in as well so each image loses its importance with the weight of all the others. Choose a few images only as the Hoges advertisments did and let people take it in.
It’s trying too hard to convince the audience that we’re not only a great place, we’ve also got ‘real nice, simple, fun loving’ people, and they’ve let the people overshadow the scenery. The end result is we look like a bunch of backwoods try-hards.
This one is by Russel Crowe – Banned in the UK.
It’s brilliant, Suzie.
As you can see I’ve recoded your link to put the video up above.
The only concern I have with it is that Crowe’s ‘crawling tongue’ doesn’t look like a tongue. It looks more like a, er, another part of his anatomy.
And of course, he’s a bloody KIWI !
I cringed when I watched the latest add, its very backward.
Look at this one, I think its very powerful and was the best one yet. It made me want to head out and explore!
Hmm, it doesn’t do it for me. I think it takes too long to come to the point and has a narrow target market – i.e. stressed out US yuppies.